Tow spreading apparatus



1965 M. G. JOHNSON ETAL 3,220,061

TOW SPREADING APPARATUS Filed June 6, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS MYLES G. JOHNSON JOSEPH R. GODWIN ATTORNEYS Nov. 30, 1965 JOHNSON ETAL 3,220,061

TOW SPREADING APPARATUS Filed June 6, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS MYLES G. JOHNSON JOSEPH R. GODWIN ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,220,061 TQW PREADING APPARATUS Myles Gerhard Johnson, Charlotte, and .Yoseph Robert Godwin, Meclrlenburg, N.C., assignors to Celanese Corporation of America, New York, N.Y., a corpora- This invention relates to the processing of textile filaments, more particularly to means facilitating the spread ing of filamentary tow to separate the filaments and provide a uniform cross-sectional distribution of the filaments in the tow.

Continuous filament tow is subject to a variety of imperfections arising during the processing of the tow. Thus the individual filaments of a tow band are crimped to maintain the integrity of the band and to facilitate handling. This crimping produces imperfections referred to as shiners arising from the conjunction of a plurality of adjacent fibers in the tow band into a compacted mass. Additional imperfections arise due to the packaging of the tow in supply bales to implement handling. It is thus found, when the tow is removed from the supply bale that the tow band may have folds, false twist and undesired variations in width. These irregularities interfere with the desired appearance and strength of yarn produced from the tow, and where the tow is utilized for filtering purposes, as for cigarette filters or the like, a desired uniform filter structure is not obtained.

In order to obviate the problems arising from these aforementioned imperfections, variety of spreading techniques have been evolved for separating the filaments comprising the tow, and distributing them with relatively uniform spacing over the cross-sectional area of the tow. Mechanical spreaders have proven inadequate in that with relatively low denier fine filament tow the forces exerted by the mechanical spreaders on the filament often tend to compress adjacent filaments mitigating the desired opening function. As a result, pneumatic tow spreaders have been developed in which an airstream is directed against the tow, serving to fluff up and separate the filaments comprising the tow. Previously employed air spreaders have presented problems in that the airstream has not been applied to the tow being processed with desired uniformity so that the tow itself was often blown apart by the airstream. Attempts at adjusting air flow to accommodate different types of tow being processed required rather extensive modification of the processing equipment.

It is accordingly among the primary objects of this invention to provide improved tow spreading means serving to provide relatively uniform distribution of the filaments comprising the tow over the cross-sectional area thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide tow spreading means efficiently utilizing air pressure.

It is also an object of the invention to provide pneumatic tow opening or spreading means in which the quantities of air and air distribution patterns are selectively adjustable to accommodate different types of tow having different spreading characteristics.

These and other objects of the invention which will become hereafter apparent, are achieved by provision of a hollow body member having an aperture extending from the interior to the exterior thereof, with the top surface of the body member delimiting a path for movement of the tow over the aperture. Within the hollow body member, an inner air conduit having an aperture extending from the interior to the exterior of said conduit is arranged, to define a flow path for an airstream. The inner conduit is movably supported within said body member so as to permit disalignment of the apertures of said conduits and said body member thus controlling the rate of iiizfiflbi Patented Nov. 30, 1965 air flowing from the flow path defined by said conduit through the tow. Air is fed to the inner conduit from both ends thereof to exit through the aperture thereof.

A feature of the invention resides in the fact that air distribution patterns may be controlled by positioning of the inner conduit.

Another feature of the invention resides in the formation of the outer body member in a fashion such as to accommodate a standard slotted tube as the inner air conduit, with the body member forming a support for the tube and a guide surface for the tow.

A further feature of the invention is that the tube forming the air conduit is provided with a simple indicator member readily viewable by a maintenance operator to permit setting of desired aperture registry to provide necessary air flow when different types of tow are to be opened at different times, thus permitting eflicient rapid adjustment of the tow spreader for each type of tow being processed.

The specific structural details of the invention, and their mode of functioning will be made most manifest and particularly pointed out in clear, concise, and exact terms in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partially exploded perspective view of the novel tow spreading device; and

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the adjustment mechanism for effecting a change of aperture alignment; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the tow spreading device; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagrammatic view of the air distribution patterns obtained at a setting of substantial registry of the aperture of the conduit with the aperture of the body member; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagrammatic view of the air distribution patterns obtained when the apertures are disaligned.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, like numerals in the various figures will be employed to designate like parts.

As best seen in FIG. 1, the tow spreader 10 is formed with an outer body member 11 here shown as of a rectangular blocklike configuration. The blocklike body member 11 is fabricated of any relatively rigid material. A readily machineable material such as Alcoas sand casting aluminum alloy 356-T6 is found particularly suitable.

Body member 11 is formed with an interior hollow 12 (two of which are here shown) extending therethorugh, and is provided with an aperture 13 preferably of a slotlike configuration extending from the hollow interior to the exterior of the block. Hollow 12 is preferably formed in the shape of a right circular cylinder thus implementing its formation since the block forming the body member may be readily bored utilizing conventional metal shaping techniques to form the hollow 12.

An air conduit 15 is provided formed of a conventional cylindrical tube member of an external diameter such as to permit it to fit within cylindrical hollow 12. Conduit 15 is of a length sufficiently greater than the length of hollows 12 so that the ends of the conduit 15 extend out from the body member 11. An aperture 19 in the form of an elongate slit is formed in conduit 15 to permit air to pass from the interior to the exterior thereof. The conduit 15 is preferably formed of a seamless cold drawn mechanical steel tubing. In fabrication aperture 19 in conduit 15, and aperture 13 in body member 11 are formed simultaneously by inserting the conduit 15 into hollow 12 and cutting the slots in both the conduit and body member in one operation.

Arranged at a spaced distance above the top of body member 11 is an upper guide cover plate 20 beneath which the tow to be opened is guided. Plate 20 has aligning apertures 21 formed therein for a purpose to be made hereinafter apparent. The upper surface 22 of the body member 11 forms a lower guide surface for the tow.

Cover plate 241 is removably mounted with respect to the body member 11 by means of spring clips 25, one of which is arranged adjacent each of the four corners of the block forming body member 11. Spring clips 25 are fabricated of a resilient material such as spring steel or the like. The clips 25 are formed with a shank 26 having an elongate slot 27 formed therein, and a jaw 28 formed by offsetting part of the shank. A guide lip is formed integrally with the jaw to serve to guide the plate into position with respect to the jaws. Clips are adjustably secured to body member 11 by means of fastening members 34 preferably in the form of headed machine screws extending through slots 26 into threaded engagement in tapped recesses in the sidewalls of the block forming the body member 11.

Cover plate 2% is supported by clips 25 at a selectively adjustable spaced distance above the top surface of body member 11 by the use of shims 30, one of which is shown at each end of member 11. It will be understood that a plurality of shims may be employed to vary the height of the cover plate 20 with respect to body member 11. Shims 30 are formed with apertures 31 of a dimension such as to permit locating pins 33 to extend therethrough into aligning apertures 21 of plate 20.

Locating pins 33 are threaded at their lower ends and secured in tapped recesses 35 in the top surface of body member 11, as seen to the upper left in FIG. 1.

Secured to body member 11 at one end thereof, to the left as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is an end plate 40, preferably formed of a rigid sheet material such as sheet steel or aluminum, PL aluminum being found particularly suitable. End plate is secured to body member 11 by conventional fastening members 41 such as headed cap screws or the like extending through apertures 42 in the plate 40 into tapped recesses 43 in body member 11. Plate 40 is formed with conduit apertures 44 of a dimension such as to permit the tube, forming conduit 15 to extend therethrough. Plate 40 is formed with a slot 45 above the conduit aperture 44 for a purpose to be made apparent. Indicia 46 are formed above the slot 45 either by engraving the plate or securing an appropriate marking plate.

Mounted on the end of conduit 15 extending through plate 49 is a pointer member 50 having a collar 51 formed integrally therewith. Collar 51 is formed with a threaded aperture 52 receiving set screw 53 to permit securement of the pointer member 50 to the conduit 15 with the open end of the conduit extending through collar 51 for connection to supply line 5. An aperture 55 is formed in the pointer 50 in alignment with slot 45 in plate 40.

Extending through slot 4-5 is a loctaing pin 56 having a stud on one end of it engaged in aperture 55 in pointer 59. A threaded transverse bore 57 is formed in pin 56 as seen in FIG. 1.

Secured to the plate 44) on the side opposite pointer 50 are a pair of spaced screw supporting brackets 60 of a right angled configuration with one leg of bracket 60 secured to the plate 40 and the other leg upstanding therefrom. Aperture 61 in the upstanding leg passes an unthreaded portion of screw 65. Screw 65 is threaded at 66 along the surface thereof to engage in internally threaded transverse bore 57 of locating pin 56. The screw 65 is formed as a thumb-screw by providing a knurled knob 68 on the end of screw 65 to permit manual rotation of the screw to effect translation of locating pin 56 and pointer 56 secured thereto.

A collar 69 force fit or otherwise secured on the free end of screw 65 serves to maintain the screw inoperati e position between brackets 60, preventing its inadv rtent removal from engagement with pin 56.

1 Operation In use, the aforedisclosed novel tow spreader 10 is arranged in proximity to the flow path of the tow in a textile mill and conduits 15 coupled to an air supply line S on each end thereof as viewed in FIG. 1. Thus, whenever spreading of the toW is desired, one or more of the spreaders 1% are arranged with the tow to be spread directed between cover plate 20 and the upper surface of body member 11. This is readily accomplished by laying the tow over the body member 11 and then positioning the cover plate 21 over the tow between clips 25, which are adjusted to provide necessary space between the cover plate 21) and body member 11.

Depending on the type of tow being processed, the pointers 50 of spreader 1t are set by turning knob 65 to drive screw 66 which causes locating pin 56 to traverse the screw and move the pointer to orient conduits 15 so that the alignment or misalignment of conduit aperture 19 with body member aperture 13 will provide desired air flow through the tow to effect filament spreading.

By virtue of the indicia 46, the positioning of the apertures may be noted to permit rapid resetting of the spreader each time a particular type of tow is being processed.

As best seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, the relative degree of registry of conduit aperture 19 with body member aperture 13 determines the air distribution pattern through the tow at any preset supply line pressure. Thus, consider ing by way of example, a tow requiring higher edge pressures to effect desired spreading will be passed over the body member 11 with the aperture 19 of conduit 15 arranged in substantial registry with the body member aperture 13 as seen in FIG. 4. At this setting maximum air fiow will take place from the ends of apertures 19 and 13, with a gradual decrease of air volume and velocity towards the center of the apertures, with a pattern which has been empirically determined to appear as illustrated in FIG. 4.

On the other hand, Where maximum air volumes and velocities are desired at the center of the tow, the con duit 15 is rotated to disalign conduit aperture 15 with respect to body member aperture 13. This restricts the available opening for air flow from conduit 15 constraining a greater quantity of air to pass through the center of the apertures 19 and 13 to provide a distribution pattern which has been empirically determined to appear as illustrated in FIG. 5.

It is thus seen that an improved tow spreader has been provided utilizing air to effect filament distribution and permitting rapid setting of the spreader to effect desired air flow.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is given merely by way of illustration, and that many variations may be made therein, without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having described our invention, what we desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

LA tow spreading device comprising a hollow outer body member having an aperture extending from the interior thereof; a hollow inner air conduit movably positioned within said outer body member, said inner conduit having an aperture extending from the interior to the exterior thereof; means mounting said inner conduit to permit relative movement between said inner conduit and outer body member to effect selective variation of the alignment of said apertures; and means for conducting air under pressure to the interior of said air conduit.

2. A tow spreading device according to claim 1 in which a pointer is coupled to said inner conduit indicating the relative position of said apertures.

3. A tow spreading device according to claim 1 in which a cover plate is removably mounted at a selectively adjustable spaced distance above said body member to confine the tow between said body member and said plate and distribute the air from the body member orifice.

4. A tow spreading device according to claim 3 in which clips are adjustably secured to said body member to engage said cover plate.

5. A tow spreading device according to claim 2 in which a thumb-screw is coupled to said pointer to effect movement thereof.

6. A tow spreading device comprising a block shaped body member having a cylindrical hollow therein with an aperture extending from the hollow to the exterior of the body member; a cylindrical tubular air conduit having an outer diameter substantially equal to the diameter of the hollow in said body member, said conduit having an aperture extending from the interior to the exterior of the conduit which conduit is movably supported in the hollow to permit adjustment of the degree of registry of the apertures; a pointer secured to said conduit; indicia fixed with respect to said body member adjacent said pointer, whereby the relative position of said pointer with respect to said indicia will indicate the degree of registry of said apertures; and a cover plate removably mounted at a selectively adjustable distance above said body member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,681,729 6/1954 Greset 22697 X 2,737,688 3/1956 Jackson 1966 2,908,045 10/1959 Stevens l966 3,016,581 1/1962 Smith 19--65 3,020,598 2/1962 Dotti 1965 3,095,632 7/1962 Smith 28--72 3,099,594 7/1963 Caines et al. 165-152 FOREIGN PATENTS 571,679 6/1958 Italy.

DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner.

RUSSELL C. MADER, Examiner. 

1. A TOW SPREADING DEVICE COMPRISING A HOLLOW OUTER BODY MEMBER HAVING AN APERTURE EXTENDING FROM THE INTERIOR THEREOF; A HOLLOW INNER AIR CONDUIT MOVABLY POSITIONED WITHIN SAID OUTER BODY MEMBER, SAID INNER CONDUIT HAVING AN APERTURE EXTENDING FROM THE INTERIOR TO THE EXTERIOR THEREOF; MEANS MOUNTING SAID INNER CONDUIT TO PERMIT RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN SAID INNER CONDUIT AND OUTER BODY MEMBER TO EFFECT SELECTIVE VARIATION OF THE ALIGNMENT OF SAID APERTURES; AND MEANS FOR CONDUCTING AIR UNDER PRESSURE TO THE INTERIOR OF SAID AIR CONDUIT. 